VITALIS and SIBTEL's Anti-Money Laundering Program in Tunisia Wins FICO Award for Regulatory Compliance

London — 28 January, 2016

• VITALIS and SIBTEL have created a cloud-based multi-client solution for anti-money laundering in Tunisia
• The solution is based on technology from FICO TONBELLER
• VITALIS and SIBTEL have won the first FICO Decision Management Award for Regulatory Compliance

VITALIS, in partnership with FICO, has developed and deployed an advanced anti-money laundering (AML) solution, hosted by SIBTEL in its cloud to be used by banks across Tunisia. The solution is now in daily use at four large pilot banks. SIBTEL and VITALIS have won the first FICO Decision Management Award for Regulatory Compliance with this solution.

SIBTEL, the “Societé Interbancaire de Telecompensation”, was founded in 1999 by 14 banks, including the Tunisian Central Bank. In order to help the nation’s banks comply with AML regulations, SIBTEL sought a solution that could be installed in the cloud as a managed service.

The solution integrates the Siron® Anti-Financial Crime Solutions Suite from FICO TONBELLER, the Dow Jones Watchlist for screening PEP (politically exposed persons) and the VITALIS solution for managing Swift archives. The solution was implemented with a team of two consultants in just three months. 

“Many Tunisian banks have a small compliance team of just one or two people,” said Monder Haouas, CEO of VITALIS. “Outsourcing hosting, configuration and support services is an excellent opportunity that allows member banks to focus on their operational business. We are pleased about the pilot banks − STUSID Bank, Banque Tuniso-Lybienne, Banque de Tunisie et des Emirats and Qatar National Bank − that trusted in our business model and in FICO TONBELLER technology. We will be pleased and honored to continue our efforts to help the young Tunisian democracy face international regulatory requirements and ensure seamless compliance for all financial institutions and the government, especially for Tax Compliance Reporting for the IRS and OECD.”

For member banks, the cloud-based solution has a number of advantages:

• Fast implementation, using a bank’s existing network infrastructure
• Continuity of service provided by a highly available and secure platform
• Lower costs, as the hardware and software is owned and hosted by SIBTEL
• Local support provided by VITALIS
• Quick and easy extension to new banks
• The addition of new modules without technical constraints
• Certification of member banks by the Tunisian central bank's inspection authorities
• Compliance with FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act) reporting requirements

The biggest challenge of the project involved mapping and ensuring the quality of data provided by member banks. Thanks to the standard interface that is part of Siron, VITALIS was able to address this problem quickly and meet SIBTEL and members banks’ objectives and deadlines for installation.

“People think about regulation as an inhibitor to innovation, but there are many cases where regulation is the impetus for innovation and adopting hybrid IT environments that include cloud,” said Michael Versace, global research director for digital strategy at the industry analyst firm IDC. “SIBTEL and VITALIS’s achievement involves not just the cloud, but a broader digital strategy that includes other third-platform technologies. These technologies collectively provide greater efficiency and agility in their ability to fight fraud and improve customer engagement. They are addressing regulatory compliance on a country level, which is very impressive.”

“SIBTEL and VITALIS have made a remarkable use of our AML technology,” said Torsten Mayer, vice president of Fair Isaac Germany, who served as CEO of TONBELLER prior to its acquisition by FICO earlier this year. “They have extended the benefits of our solution to an entire nation’s banks, which is a great leap forward in the region’s fight against financial crime.”

The FICO Decision Management Awards
The FICO Decision Management Awards honor companies that have achieved outstanding business results using FICO predictive analytics and decision management solutions. Winners will be featured in presentations at FICO World 2016 in Washington D.C., April 26-29.

Winners were selected by a panel of esteemed industry leaders, analysts and journalists; Philip Alexander of the Financial Times; Joel Wells from Discover Card, Michael Versace from IDC and Michael Wu of Lithium Technologies.

For more information: http://www.fico.com/dmawards/

About FICO
FICO (NYSE: FICO) helps individuals and businesses worldwide make better decisions by applying data science to solve human problems. Using predictive analytics, FICO has dramatically improved profitability, customer satisfaction and growth for companies in 100 countries across financial services, telecommunications, health care, retail and other fields. Founded in 1956 and based in Silicon Valley, FICO holds more than 165 US and foreign patents for technologies that have transformed entire industries. Whether protecting 2.5 billion payment cards from fraud, helping hundreds of millions of people worldwide obtain credit, or ensuring that millions of airplanes and rental cars are in the right place at the right time, FICO powers decisions that help businesses and people prosper.

Learn more at http://www.fico.com

For FICO news and media resources, visit www.fico.com/news.

FICO and Siron are trademarks or registered trademarks of Fair Isaac Corporation in the US and other countries.

About VITALIS
VITALIS is both a consulting company and integrator of high-value technology solutions to the financial industry. We support our customers through a pragmatic and operational approach based on the alliance of consulting and technology, providing a valuable and measurable ROI. Founded in 2007 by its owner, Monder Haouas, and based in France and Tunisia, VITALIS focuses its business development strategy on Africa. To better meet the needs of our customers, we have developed a strong policy of partnership with software leaders such as FICO TONBELLER, Dow Jones and MEGA International. VITALIS provide services and technology solutions focused on business needs related to business process performance, enterprise architecture, IT governance and audit, fraud, risk and compliance.

Learn more at http://www.e-vitalis.com